Mouth-watering Goan Brinjal Pickle

Flavourful Goan Eggplant Pickle

Here’s one of the most popular Goan pickles – the mouth-watering Goan brinjal pickle. It is made with the longer variety of dark purple brinjals. The pickle has an appetising aroma and taste and can add a zing to even a simple meal of plain rice and curry or rice and dal. Besides, I’ve simplified the process of making it. So, one more reason to give this recipe a shot.

For generations of Goans, this has been a favourite pickle. But you won’t fully understand why, until you actually taste it!

Ingredients

500g long, dark purple brinjals

1 tbsp salt + more to taste, if necessary

1 tbsp turmeric powder

1 ½ tsp cumin seeds

1 ½ tsp mustard seeds

½ tsp fenugreek seeds

2 to 2 ½ tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder

18 medium-size cloves (or 8 to 9 fat cloves) of garlic

3-inch long, thick piece of ginger

½ cup oil

½ cup jaggery (or brown sugar)

½ cup vinegar

Procedure

1. Wash and pat dry the brinjals. Cut them length-wise into halves, and then slice each half into 3 or 4 strips. Chop each strip into ½” thick pieces.
2. Add the salt and turmeric powder to the chopped pieces. Toss them well, then cover and set them aside for an hour.
3. In the meanwhile, dry roast the cumin, mustard, and fenugreek seeds on medium heat for 5 minutes. Then grind these to a fine powder in the dry grinder of a mixer-grinder.
4. Grind the garlic and ginger to a paste with around 1 ½ tbsp of vinegar in the same dry grinder. Alternatively, you could crush these with a pestle and mortar.
5. After an hour, drain off the liquid released from the brinjal pieces. Squeeze handfuls of the chopped pieces and discard all the liquid extracted from them. Spread the brinjal pieces on a tray or thali and air-dry or sun-dry them for around an hour.
6. Transfer the brinjal pieces to a non-stick pan, and heat them on medium heat, stirring them off and on, for around 6 – 7 minutes to get rid of some more of the water in them.
7. Add the oil and cook the brinjal pieces on medium heat for around 6 – 7 minutes.
8. Stir in the ground dry spices and the ginger-garlic paste. Then stir in the chilli powder, retaining ½ tbsp to adjust the taste of the pickle later on.
9. Add the grated jaggery and stir everything well. Taste the pickle and add some more salt and the remaining chilli powder if necessary.
10. Add the vinegar and continue cooking the pickle for around 5 minutes till it thickens and the oil begins to separate. Turn off the heat.
11. After 5 minutes, transfer the hot pickle to a sterilised bottle. Put the lid on the bottle only after the pickle cools down to room temperature.
12. The flavourful brinjal pickle doesn’t need any maturing time and can be enjoyed right away. It will stay good in the fridge for several months.

Enjoy!